This credit must be applied to the whole building. The CI space can contribute, but the CI space can’t earn the credit on its own.

Here’s some options to consider for reducing heat island affect:

Add vegetated islands to surface parking that provide both heat island reduction and stormwater infiltration benefitsInstall open-grid paving in areas like walkways, patios, plazas, and courtyards as existing hardscape ages and needs to be replacedWhen your surface parking lot needs to be repaved, consider installing a high-albedo permeable or porous paver system designed specifically for parking applications.

No, parking spaces that are not under your direct control should not be included in SSc7.1.

The SRI compliance path generally isn’t feasible for projects that don’t already know the SRI of existing hardscape materials. If the SRI is unknown, you must send a sample of the material to a facility that can test to ASTM standards, which is usually cost- and time-prohibitive for project teams.

Yes, this is an acceptable path to credit compliance per LEED Interpretation #5370, as long as no nearby offsite parking facilities are leased or owned by the building owner, property manager, or tenants for use by building occupants. See the Interpretation for additional information on demonstrating compliance through this path.

To adequately show that at least 45% of regularly occupied spaces comply with vision requirements, you’ll have to provide documentation showing line of sight for the spaces that are contributing to credit achievement, even if floor plans and cubical configurations vary throughout the building. If this is particularly onerous for your building, consider providing section plans for a representative sample of layouts and explaining the percent of regularly occupied spaces that these samples represent.

USGBC developed Reduced Occupancy Guidance for buildings that are 50% to 90% occupied (buildings under 50% occupied are not eligible for LEED-EBOM). This document gives the following guidance for IEQc2.4: “The credit performance threshold is based on the fully occupied and partially occupied portions of the building. Any spaces completely vacant or unused throughout the entire performance period make no contribution to the results and may be excluded.”

Regularly occupied spaces are areas where people normally spend time either seated or standing as they work, study, or perform other focused activities in the building. Some common space types that are not considered regularly occupied space are corridors, bathrooms, storage, mechanical rooms, and break rooms. Conference/meeting rooms, classrooms, and hotel guest rooms are considered regularly occupied.

The program needs to confirm that maintenance activities are conducted at least every two years in order to retain the roofing material’s SRI characteristics. Generally, the program should involve cleaning the roof according to the manufacturer recommended protocol.

The form is calculating a weighted high-albedo area based on the solar reflectance index of the roofing material. So, a low-sloped roof with an SRI value of 100 has a higher weighted area than a roof with an SRI value of 85. Because the required SRI value is 78 for at least 75% of the roof area, if you have SRI value greater than 78 or if you have more than 75% of the roof covered with high-albedo materials, your weighted average can easily be more 100%.